AFL 2024: A win and not redemption Brisbane’s top priority against Collingwood

Grand final “retribution” is the furthest thing from the Brisbane Lions’ collective minds ahead of Thursday night’s showdown against premiers Collingwood at the Gabba.

Incredibly, both teams are yet to win this season, with the Lions suffering back-to-back losses and the Magpies having an even worse record of three defeats from as many matches.

It’s for that reason the Lions are only interested in winning to kickstart their latest campaign rather than concern themselves with grand final revenge after losing last season’s decider by just four points.

“For us it’s more about this season,” Lions defender Ryan Lester said.

“We honestly haven’t spoken about retribution for the grand final. It’s about 2024 and trying to get our first win of the year.

“At the moment it hasn’t been a motivation. For some players maybe it is real motivation, but for me and most of the guys it’s about this season and trying to get that on track.

“It’s probably different circumstances to what people expected coming into the Easter Thursday game, but it’s going to make for a great game. Both of us would like to get our seasons somewhat on track a little bit.”

Lester described the early stages of Brisbane’s season as “patchy”.

“We’ve done some really good stuff and just been blown away in portions of the games,” he said in reflecting on the Lions’ losses to Carlton and Fremantle.

“We’ve just got to dig in a bit more, we’ve got to apply a bit more pressure, we’ve got to hunt the opposition a little bit more, and hopefully that’s what we can do against Collingwood.”

Injuries have also hurt the Lions, with star half-back Keidean Coleman out for the rest of the season with a serious knee injury and fellow defender Connor McKenna sidelined with a hamstring injury.

However, in better news, prized off-season recruit Tom Doedee emerged unscathed in his return to football after 10 months out with a knee injury in Brisbane’s weekend VFL win over Essendon.

With Brisbane’s defensive stocks stretched, Doedee is firming to be named in the Lions’ 23 for Thursday night’s battle.

“He’s a very reliable player,” Lester said of the former Adelaide Crows star.

“He’s tough, he’s courageous. We’ve had some injuries in our defence over the last two weeks, so he’s certainly going to be a mainstay for us for the next five years.

“We’ll bring him in when he’s ready to go. I watched a little bit of the VFL on the weekend and he did well, so it’s up to the coaches whether they bring him in this week, but he’s certainly going to add something to us.

“We’ve got enough experience and good players in our team that someone like Tom should have the confidence to come in and just do his little bit … he’ll be a real weapon for us.”